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Interpretative / New Journalism / Poetics. (Denzin 1997; van Manen 2002) .... Photos were taken by each author spontaneously or as aide memoires; they had not ...
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O’Gorman, Kevin D. and Prentice, Richard C. and Maclaren, Andrew C. (2008) Iranian hospitality: embodiment, experience and representation. In: Royal Geographical Society / IBG Annual International Conference 2008, 2008-10-26 - 2008-10-29, London, England. Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. c and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors Copyright and/or other copyright owners. You may not engage in further distribution of the material for any profitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute both the url (http:// strathprints.strath.ac.uk/) and the content of this paper for research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to Strathprints administrator: mailto:[email protected]

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O'Gorman, Kevin D. and Prentice, Richard C. and Maclaren, Andrew C. (2008) Iranian hospitality: embodiment, experience and representation. In: Royal Geographical Society / IBG Annual International Conference 2008, 26-29 Oct 2008, London, England.

http://eprints.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/6900/

This is an author-produced version of a presentation from the Royal Geographical Society / IBG Annual International Conference 2008, 26-29 Oct 2008. Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. You may not engage in further distribution of the material for any profitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute both the url (http://eprints.cdlr.strath.ac.uk) and the content of this paper for research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. You may freely distribute the url (http://eprints.cdlr.strath.ac.uk) of the Strathprints website. Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to The Strathprints Administrator: [email protected]

Relevance 1: Bazaars / Caravanserais are becoming commoditised and symbolic of Middle Eastern heritage

Iranian Hospitality: Embodiment, Experience and Representation Richard Prentice, Kevin O’Gorman and Andrew MacLaren Royal Geographical Society: Geographies of Hospitality 2008

Relevance 2

Rationale

Ethnographic method has changed

1. Dissatisfaction with conceptualisations of the origins of hospitality & tourism

Empiricist / Structuralist

§ §

Interpretative / New Journalism / Poetics (Denzin 1997; van Manen 2002)

Ethnocentrici ty Gaps

2. Dissatisfaction with the uses of ethnography in hospitality & tourism discourse §

Pri vileging of the often single ethnographer

3. Need for multiple ethnographies §

Expressivism / Expressive Perception (Rudd 2003)

§

As historical records ha ve been destro yed and an ywa y can not con ve y emotions easily As people react differentl y in what is highly interpreta ti ve

Multiple ethnography in hospitality?

Methodological scrutiny of key ethnographers in hospitality and tourism?

Crang (1996)

Palmer (2005)

Number of citations of paper investigated

19

4

Number of authors discussing foci of method

2

0

Number of authors discussing operationalisation of method

0

0

§ Concern 1 Users of ethnographies are privileging the ethnographers by using individual interpretations as infrequently questioned ‘truths’

§ Concern 2 Rarely are ethnographies contested, unlike journalistic interpretations

§ Concern 3 Rarely are multiple ethnographies undertaken on the same society or sub-grouping to explore alternative interpretations

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Built Environment As Text – Traditional Approaches The built environment is used as a text b y reflecting and analysing the cityscape; the cityscape is “a story people tell themselves about themselves.” Geertz (1977: 448) Historical Architecture Identify the architect, analyze the work, and put Hillenbrand (1994) the architect's work into the larger context of his time and region Social Architecture Blake (1999)

The built environment reflects the social system of the time and the ways in which that system is expressed, reproduced, and experienced and therefore reflects the structure of urban life

Case Study 1: Interpretation in Caravanserais

Built Environment As Text – Building on Past Approaches Historical Architecture Hillenbrand (1994) Social Architecture Blake (1999)

Identify the architect, analyze the work, and put the architect's work into the larger context of his time and region The built environment reflects the social system of the time and the ways in which that system is expressed, reproduced, and experienced and therefore reflects the structure of urban life

Interpretative – Expressive Ethnography

The built environment as experienced, inferred and represented by an outsider in time or culture

Caravansarai ‘a house for a caravan’. Sarai - ‘large house’ Karban ‘one who protects trade’.

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Typic al L ayo ut

1200 Years of History in Middle East Establish caravanserais in your lands so that whenever a Muslim passes by, you will put him up for a day and a night and take care of his animals; if he is sic k, provide him with hospitality for two days and two nights; and if he has used up all of his provisions and is unable to continue, supply him with whatever he needs to reach his hometown. Samarkand, Uzbekistan 719A.D.

Caravanserai at Dayr-I Gachin 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Gate W atch to w ers O ffic e E n tran c e lo b b y C o u rty ard S tab les B as ic ro o m S tan d ard ro o m P res tig io u s ro o m S u ite S tairs to ro o f M ill P riv ate co u rty ard M osque B ath H o u s e T o ilets C o rn er to w er ro o m

Case Study 2: Interpretative – Expressive Ethnography in Bazaars

C = Caravanserai E = Madrasa M = Mosque

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Unusual opportunity… § Three hospitality academics interested in a similar phenomenon: the development of Islamic hospitality and its relevance for understanding the development of hospitality generally § Common purpose of each author’s trips: to locate, explore & record the caravanserais associated with the bazaar § Number of field trips made: Co-author 1 (2 trips); Co-author 2 (5); Coauthor 3 (1)

W hy use phot ogr aphs? § Photos were taken by each author spontaneously or as aide memoires; they had not been intended to resource the present analysis. § Contemporary form of expression, like blogs § Highly personal: in taking, composition, manipulation, and selection

Laddering of int er pret at ion of phot ographs for present analysis § § §

What is the photo of? (content) Why is the photo important to me? (meaningfulness) What does the photo remind me of? (associations) Each co-author responded for their own photos using up to three levels of significance for each level on the ladder:

Prim ary

Secondary

Specifics

Over view of Findings

Analysis and Conclusions

Three ethnographers interested in much the same hospitality phenomenon interpret it in quite different wa ys across: § Content § Meaningfulness § Associations In particular in terms of: § Nuancing § Use of hierarchies

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Content features arranged by Co-author 1

Range in number of photo selected for analysis and features identified by each of the three co-authors Co-author 1 Co-author 2 Co-author 3 Total Photos

290

68

71

Content

611

68

71

Meaningfulness

471

105

67

Associations

79

16

52

Retailers; Artisans; Shoppers; Worshippers; Resident; Motorist

Bazaar People Imagery Commercial Functionality – Artisan Compar ison Goods Trades

Basketry; Metal work; Carpet trade; Other workshops

Commercial Functionality – Recreational Consumption

Tourism; Teahouse

Commercial Functionality – Domestic Consumption

Food; Consumer durables; Books

Architecture

Main entrance to bazaar; Bazaar lighting; Bazaar roadways; Former bath house; Former caravanserais; Mosques; Madrasa; Shrine; Other details

Sincerity Weather

Co-author 3

Contriving ethnographic commonality?

Self Bazaar Brickw ork Chamber

Mapping content features across levels Content features arranged by

Co-author 1

Guide Ladies

Co-author 2

Mosque

Bazaar

Old light fixture Old Zoroastrian symbol

Caravanserai

Pr ayer room

Esfahan City

Shop Mosque

Skylight Spice stall

Co-author 2

Co-author 3

%

%

%

43.5

11.8

4.2

Mosques

3.8

26.5

36.6

Bazaar

49.1

58.8

50.7

Sincerity

1.0

-

-

Weather

1.0

-

-

Im agery

1.6

-

1.4

Guide

-

-

1.4

Self

-

-

5.6

Former caravanserai

Square Stall

Meaningfulness featur es arr anged by Co- author 1

Meaningfulness featur es arr anged by: Co-author 2

Co-author 3

Ar chitecture

Consumption foci

Form; Colours; Range; Contrast; Animation; Detail; Representation

Em otional consumption: Em otions evoked

Engagement; Beauty; Awe; Escape

Em otional consumption: Cultural im aginings

The exotic; Felt authenticity; Pastness; Continuity; Sincerity

Globalisation

Modernity

Ar chitecture

Colour

Bazaar

Difference

Brickwork

Emptiness

Colour

Environment

Contrast

Light

Faith

Memory aid

Fruit stall

Mes s

Handy work

Pastness

People

People

Square

Roof

Stall

Size

Unique

View

5

Contriving ethnographic commonality? Mapping meaningfulness features across levels Main features only

Co-author 1

Co-author 2

Co-author 3

%

%

%

Colours

14.2

20.0

3.0

Contrast/ difference

3.8

6.7

3.0

Anim ation/ people

2.5

18.1

13.4

Architectural details

2.3

1.0

25.4

Representation

5.7

3.9

1.5

Eng agement

3.0

19.0

-

Awe/ scale

6.8

3.8

23.8

Range/ variety

1.1

-

10.5

Form

13.2

-

-

Pastness

4.0

7.6

-

Everyday

8.1

2.9

3.0

Continuity/ faith

16.8

7.6

16.4

Associational features arranged by Co-author 1

Co-author 2 America

Places experienced

Iran; Continental Europe; British Isles; Africa; Elsew here

Places imagined

Iran; Near East in general; Europe; Afric a; Elsewhere

Non-places

Landscapes; Buildings; Artefacts

Pastness Spain Nazi Germ any Rome Star Wars

Contriving ethnographic commonality? Associational features arranged by Co-author 3 American Indians

La Defense

Skills

Books

Limes

Souvenirs

Boybands

Market

St Peter’s Square

Mapping associational features across levels Main features only

Places directly experienced

Co-author 1

Co-author 2

%

%

Co-author 3 %

62.0

68.8

23.1

Camels

Mediterranean

Stadiums

Generic places experienced

2.5

-

21.2

Catering equipment

Mosaics

Star Wars

25.2

-

-

Churches

Movies

The Holocaust

Places indirectly experienced through media

6.3

5.8

My grandpa

The Old Friday Mosque

Events indirectly exper ienced through media

-

Films Glasgow

Northern Africa

Third world

Buildings

7.6

-

19.2

Ice cream

School trips

Venice

Feelings

-

12.5

-

Iranians

Shops

World War II memorials

Conclusions

References

Origins of hospitality and tourism need to be located in nonEuropean cultures as well as European cultures The use of an ethnography needs to recognise its inseparability from the ethnographer Greater attention to methodology is required, not least as ethnographers are embracing their interpretivist – expressive role Multiple ethnographies are desirable in revealing commonalities and particularities of ethnographic interpretations / expressions

Blake, S.P. (1999) Half the World: The social architecture of Safavid Isfahan, 1590-1722. California: Mazda. Crang, M. (1996) Magic Kingdom or a quixotic quest for authenticity? Annals of Tourism Research, Vol.23, pp.415-431 Denzin, N.K. (1997) Interpretive Ethnography: Ethnographic Practices for the 21st Century. Thousand Oaks: Sage Geertz, C. (1977) Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books. Hillenbrand, R. (1994) Islamic Architecture: Form, Function, and Meaning. New York: Columbia University Press. Palmer, C. (2005) Ethnography of Englishness, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol.32, pp.7-27 Rudd, A. (2003) Expressing the Word: Skepticism, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger. Open Court: Chicago. Van Manen, M. (ed.) (2002) Writing in the Dark. London, Ontario: Althouse

A single ethnography is likely to be misleading, and multiple ethnographies are needed Or users need to be more circumspect

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